The Campsie Hills have taken their name from
the place where the village of Old Campsie now stands; and, therefore,
were probably so called only in the later times of Gaelic dialogue south
of the Forth. They are also known as the Campsie Fells. Fell is, by Dr.
Jamieson, defined "a precipitous rock, a rocky hill." He
remarks that Suidas uses the Greek phelleis for mountainous
places. Hardinge, about 1460, calls Dundaff hill "the fell"
above "the foord of Frew," and speaks of
"the high Ochhilles,
Which some men call montaignes, and some felles."
The general surface of the Campsie
district may, in the strictest language, be described as highly
undulated, and these undulations follow each other in regular
succession. They are of great length from south to north, and nearly all
run in that direction. The general contour of these lengthened hills,
individually, although somewhat uncommon, is not peculiar to this part
of the country. Each hill has a considerable degree of curvature, the
convex of which is uniformly presented to the west; while the central
part of that curve forms the highest point of their elevation, and they
gradually slope towards the extremity of the segments which their
curvatures form. Upon their eastern sides, they rise with an equal
acclivity of from 20 to 30 degrees; the rapidity of which, in some
measure, diminishes as it approaches the summits, where they are
somewhat roundbacked. Their central or highest points seldom or ever
exceed an elevation of from 1200 to 1500 feet above the level of the
sea; at which height their western faces generally become abrupt and
broken, and continue to be precipitous for a considerable depth under
the lip of the hill. They seldom show, however, more of the
stratification than that of the trap, which in such situations evidently
points out its strong tendency towards columnar form. At the bases of
these precipices, a long and rapid slope of debris succeeds, which is
frequently covered by vegetation. The troughs or hollows, between the
undulations, generally form narrow dales or glens, but some few of them
have a sufficient breadth to entitle them to the denomination of
valleys. The most extended of these are the vales of Campsie and Fintry.
Most prominent among the heights is a hill of somewhat conic appearance
called the Meikle Bin. Situated a little to the south of the road which
leads from Fintry to the Vale of Campsie, it towers above all the other
heights of the district, and rises superior to them at least 300 feet.
From its top, is one of the most extensive, beautiful, and variegated
views in the country, part of fourteen, if not of sixteen counties, and
perhaps one-half of Scotland, being at once under the eye. At a moderate
calculation, the area of the whole view is said to be 12,000 miles.
As far as this tract of country has been
dipped into, the geological materials of which it is formed are as
follows: - A surface of vegetable soil; trap; sandstone; limestone;
shale, or slate clay; blue clays of various tints and of various
consistencies; bituminous shales; clay iron-ores, some of which are
thinly stratified, and others are embedded in the shale in lenticular
form; coal and clay marle; all of which have been arranged by nature in
the order here given, from the surface soil downward.
The north side of Ben Lomond, like that
of the west, is very steep – in one part, a dreadful precipice of more
than 1,800 feet, and firm must be the nerve of him who can look down
unmoved. The perpendicular height of the mountain above the surface of
the lake is 3,240 feet, and the average height of the lake above the
level of the sea 22 feet, which, added to the former height, gives the
perpendicular altitude of the Ben, above the level of the sea, 3,262
feet. In height it is surpassed by other mountains; but the difference
is more than compensated by the elegance of its insulated situation with
regard to the neighbouring hills; its form being that of a huge
truncated cone, and its appearance, from whatever part it is viewed,
much more noble and magnificent than that of the other neighbouring
mountains. Ben Lomond is chiefly composed of gneiss, or granite,
interspersed with great quantities of quartz. The latter substance is
found near the top, in immense masses, some of which weigh several tons.
These appear like patches of snow upon the mountain, even when seen from
Luss. Considerable quantities of micaccous schist, shining like silver
beautifully undulated, and in some places imbedded with quartz, are also
at the top, and many rocks towards the base are entirely composed of
this substance. To the south, the ridge continues with the same
characters along the eastern side of the loch, but nowhere rises into
summits of distinguished height. One of these, which is of some
elevation, is called Conic Hill, beyond which appears the Hill of
Ardmore, the final termination of the chain.
The ascent to the top of Ben Lomond,
directly west, is steep, but from the south it is more gradual, until
near the top, and then it becomes more precipitous. The view from the
summit is inconceivably interesting and grand. At the bottom is seen the
beautiful lake, stretched out like a map, its islands having lost their
rugged forms and appearing as flat substances amidst the bright expanse.
The banks of the lake are at hand, ornamented with seats and cultivated
grounds. Looking towards the east, the rich plains of Lothian and
Stirlingshire are distinctly in sight. Casting the eye from thence to
the south, and pursuing the view towards the east, the high grounds of
Lanarkshire, the vales of Renfrewshire, with the firth of Clyde, and the
wide Atlantic, with its islands, are clearly discerned; while the Isle
of Man and the coast of Ireland blend as it were with the sky, being
scarcely visible. But, to one unaccustomed to Highland scenery, the most
striking view is undoubtedly on the north side, which may with truth be
termed fearfully sublime. The eye, from where it first discovers the
Ochil hills near the east, ranging along the north until it comes near
the Western Ocean, sees nothing but mountain upon mountain, elevating
their summits in almost every variety of shape.
The Alpine plants are found here. Amongst
others, a species of the bramble, the cloud-berry (rubus chamaemorus),
is got in great profusion. The blossom is a purplish white. The fruit is
a bunch of red berries, ripe in July, and well flavoured. The Laplanders
store it in the snow, and preserve it from year to year, eating it with
the reindeer’s milk; and it sometimes graces the festive board of the
Scottish Highlander. But there are also the Silene acaulis, or
moss catch-fly; the Sibbaldia procumbens, or procumbent
silver-weed; the Rhodiala rosea, the Azalea procumbens, the
Trientalis (in the weeds overhanging the lake), and the statice.
Vegetables abounding below, assume here a new habit – the Epilobium,
the Alchemilla or lady’s mantle, the saxifrages, and the Cerastium.
Near the bottom of the mountain two plants are found which catch flies,
and kill the insects, by closing their leaves upon them – the Drosera
rotundifolia, or round-leafed sundew, and the Drosera angelica,
or great sundew.
On the precipitous side of Ben Lomond,
where, ascending from the south, the stranger would imagine there can be
no footing, a safe path descends by a deep ravine, leading to the
farm-house of Comar, and thence to Aberfoyle. Along the eastern shore of
the loch, and the western side of the Ben, or what is called Craigrostan,
a narrow Alpine road conducts through scenery of gigantic features. Here
tradition, countenanced by Barbour, has assigned to Robert Bruce a cave,
in which he spent a night when passing from Strathfillan after the
nearly fatal combat with MacDougal of Lorn. Here, too, a steep shelving
rock is pointed out as "Rob Roy’s prison," where that
Highland Laird is reported to have stowed such of his vassals as
he had adjudged to durance. North of Craigrostan is what is said to have
been his "Cave," in which he rendezvoused with his followers
in the exploits attributed to him. Many tales, indeed, have been told of
this unfortunate man, for which there is no evidence and no foundation.
Of his cage, or prison, an anecdote is mentioned, for the veracity of
which we do not pledge ourselves, but which we report as illustrative of
the tradition, true or fabulous. One of his tenants had not paid his
rent when it had become due. Rob, suspending him on a rope by the
shoulders, let him down into the fastness. Having drawn him up at the
end of twenty-four hours, he told him that, if he failed to pay by a
particular time, he should draw him up by the neck.
That portion of the Ochils which extends
into the parish of Alva, when seen at some distance from the south,
appears to be one continued range, with little variation in height; but,
as the mountain slopes towards the south, it is intersected by
exceedingly deep and narrow glens. From this circumstance the foreground
is divided into three separate hills, distinguished by the names of Wood
Hill, Middle Hill, and West Hill of Alva. Wood Hill rises immediately
from its base to the height of 1,620 feet, and continues still rising
gradually for about two miles further north, until it reaches the top of
Bencloch, or Bencleugh, the highest point of the Alva hills; and the
summit of all the Ochils being, according to an observation 2,420 feet
above the level of the river Devon, and 2,300 feet above the level of
the Forth at Alva. The view from this summit is very extensive; but the
Wood hill, the Middle, and the West hills are incomparably the most
beautiful of the whole range, from Glen-Devon on the east, to their
termination near the bridge of Alva on the west. They are not so steep,
rugged, or inaccessible as those immediately westward in the parish of
Logie, and they present a more regular, noble, and bold aspect than any
of those that lie immediately on the east; besides which they are
clothed with the richest verdure at all season, and produce grass of the
finest quality and in the greatest variety. The summits of the central
parts of the Ochils, particularly Bencleugh, are composed of granite,
both red and grey, many varieties of which are extremely beautiful, and
contain distinct crystals of black schorl. |